


Things Fall Apart

by Elizabeth Tudor (Liz_Tudor)



Category: Lupin III
Genre: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaangst, Angst, Canon-typical levels of Lupin/Fujiko - Freeform, Confusion, EVERYTHING GOES WRONG, Eventual sorta Lupin/Jigen, F/M, Fujiko’s unintentionally a jerk, Gen, Hurt, Jigen’s fed up, Kind-of-friendship, Lovesick Pig, Lupin had no idea, Lupin thinks with his dick, M/M, Multi, NOT sex potions, Nettare d'Amore, One-sided pining, Other, Things Fall Apart - Freeform, Time to go back to being a bodyguard I guess, Tsundere Jigen, eventual happy-ish ending, love potions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:34:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26248024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liz_Tudor/pseuds/Elizabeth%20Tudor
Summary: "It'll be fine. Just like Nettare d'Amore!"It isnotjust like Nettare d’Amore.Love is not as simple as uncontrollable lust. Love is not simple at all. And when accidental exposure to an actual love potion rips the cover off a few carefully kept secrets, things get very complicated, very quickly.
Relationships: Arsène Lupin III/Mine Fujiko, Eventual sort of Lupin/Jigen, Ishikawa Goemon XIII/Jigen Daisuke/Arsène Lupin III/Mine Fujiko, Jigen Daisuke/Arsène Lupin III
Comments: 9
Kudos: 28





	Things Fall Apart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [VampireNaomi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampireNaomi/gifts).



> • Quarantine has been frustrating.
> 
> • Working at a hospital, more so.
> 
> • ~~This is not what I set out to write.~~
> 
> • ~~I promised fluff after Karakuri Ningyō.~~
> 
> • But here we are.
> 
> • Experimenting with a new writing style, because ~~I’ve had the bones of this in my head for close to a year and a half, but I’m currently too frustrated impatient angry to write it in my usual flowery prose~~
> 
> • …it suits the story.
> 
> • If you happen to want a song for this one, I’d suggest Elton John’s ‘Friends Never Say Goodbye,’ from the Road to El Dorado soundtrack
> 
> • Edit: gifted to VampireNaomi, after re-reading her original comment and realizing just how much of this fic was inspired by it.

“There isn't much I haven't shared  
With you, along the road.  
And through it all, there'd always be  
Tomorrow's episode.

Suddenly that isn't true -  
There's another avenue…”

~Friends Never Say Goodbye

“I was getting tired of you guys nagging me. Go on, then. Yeah, you too, Jigen. Go! That’s right, turn around and just keep walking. Just keep going straight and you’ll hit the ocean, and when you get there, shave your head and become a monk or something! Then you can be celibate forever! Jerk.”

~Lupin, Mystery of Mamo

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

  * Another job.



  * Another target.



  * If they’re lucky _(they never are),_ a ~~nother~~ paycheck



  * Lupin, almost bouncing with enthusiasm, his broad hands, knuckles dusted with hair, fanning blurry surveillance shots across the battered coffee table like a magician fanning a peacock’s tail of cards.



  * _Pick your poison. Take your chances._



  * Another mystical artifact, ~~certain to be~~ _probably_ a letdown.



  * Maybe the legends will hold long enough for them to sell it.



  * Jigen manages to muster enough enthusiasm to rake his glance over the plates of croissants and eggs and fruit to the sources his partner’s carefully put together.



  * The swath of papers vary - ancient papyrus, crumbling to dust - printouts still warm from the computer when he picks one up.



  * Fujiko knocks his knees aside, flinging herself across Lupin’s thighs, arms coming up to curl behind his neck like twining vines. ~~~~The gunman doesn’t need to see her eyes to know they’re huge innocent ~~devious~~ batting perfectly mascara’d lashes.



  * _Don’t trust her, you idiot. ~~~~_



  * _We haven’t had a score in **weeks**. Doesn’t the job matter more?_



  * _~~Don’t I?~~_



  * That small, sideways grin at him, that makes him want to throttle her.



  * “It would look soooo good on a necklace, don’t you think? Won’t you get it for me, Lupin?”



  * …and that’s why paychecks are rare, most jobs leaving them with empty wallets and hollow bellies and fresh injuries to be bound up with whatever’s to hand.



  * _He regards the scars from rough, alcohol-sterilized field surgeries with **pride frustration caution distaste resignation anger**_



  * And still Lupin paws after her, his brain plummeting south the minute she lands in his lap, eyes doleful and lip trembling, while Jigen stews in his own simmering rage.



  * ~~Hope springs eternal.~~



  * Jigen does his best to ignore ~~the searing curl of jealousy burning through his guts~~ her, and reads:



  * “’A gem dedicated to Aphrodite, that fully realizes latent feelings of love for the companions around you, to the point of interference in everyday life.’”



  * A lot of technical gobblygook. A raised eyebrow. An old sheaf of parchment, next.



  * A tale of woe, from a man who owned the stone. ~~Tale as old as time.~~



  * “‘Worried to distraction, this fear that some harm might come to my precious Lucrezia, dear one of my heart…’



  * “…blah blah blah…



  * “…you sure about this, Lup?”



  * The Third just grins.



  * “We’ve dealt with love potions before. It’s just like Nettare d’Amore!”



  * “I wasn’t there for the Lovesick Pig fiasco.”



  * “It’ll be _fine,_ ”



  * Lupin’s lapful of Fujiko squirms, and the thief grins, scoops her up, scatters the detritus of breakfast across the polished table, crumbs and bacon rinds constellating like fireworks-sparks to mark his progress.



  * “Be a dear, Jigen-chan, and do the dishes!” It’s not a question.



  * It is **not **just like Nettare d’Amore.



  * ~~Rampant lust and an unchained id is not the same as love.~~



  * Love is caring about someone else, more than you care about yourself.



  * _~~the constant fear worry panic that they’ll be taken from you, unable to stop it, unable to protect them, something in your chest cracking with the desperate need to be **everything** for them~~_



  * _~~the certain knowledge that you would take a bullet meant for them, and consider it a good day’s work~~_



  * Venus may be a bitch, but she knows her job.



  * Lupin may care for his gang, but there remains a difference between loving someone, and being _in love_ with them.



  * A Lupin truly in love is a sorry thing.



  * All his perfect confidence in the people he shares his life with splinters to fear, that: _the fall, the bullets, the ambush, the rubble falling around them like bombs, shattering the marble tiles in sprays of choking dust_ , might prove deadly. The distraction makes him indecisive, acting on reflex instead of intellect and trying to shield the others uselessly with bodies, arms, hope.



  * _He cares for his gang; worrying for them is something new._



  * Fujiko’s usual flawless _exit: stage left, gem in hand_ is interrupted; fear binding her to the trio, worry that she may have led them inescapably to doom, unable to do anything but share the outcome.



  * Goemon fairs a little better.



  * Unable to look any of them in the eye, too concerned with defending their little family to mount his usual brilliant attacks.



  * ~~What if he lets them down, lets something get close enough to hurt them…~~



  * … ~~he could never bear the disappointment in their faces.~~



  * They fight as best they can.



  * Jigen is the only one of them who keeps his head, still snarling curses, firing off shots at any face or barrel of a gun that pokes around the doorjamb.



  * A conveniently placed speedboat. A chandelier that can oh so easily be sent crashing down. Zenigata’s impeccably timed entrance: too late to catch them, just in time to bag their pursuit.



  * In the end, it’s dumb luck that gets them away. ~~As always.~~



  * The gem’s effects fade after it takes a one-way trip to the bottom of the sea.



  * ~~If he _ever_ sees it again, it’ll be too soon for Jigen.~~



  * The gunman is rigid with rage and fear. Lupin is sprawled loose-limbed on the grass, laughing, exuberant with their escape.



  * He asks. Of course he does.



  * “So why is Jigen the only one it didn’t affect?! Are you just completely incapable of love?” Grinning, the question guileless, not meant to cut.



  * _Asshole._



  * _~~Wouldn’t you like to know.~~_



  * Fujiko laughs, knowingly.



  * Jigen’s blood chills to gun-cold lead, bullets freezing in his veins.



  * “Of course it didn’t affect him,” she smirks, unaware, ~~or uncaring.~~



  * “Fujiko…”



  * “No, I wanna hear this.” Lupin grinning, exasperated, curious. “Why the hell was he the only one acting normal?”



  * “Fujiko, _shut up._ ”



  * ~~The secret he’s kept for years, held closer than his Magnum, closer than a heartbeat~~



  * “Isn’t it obvious?” She’s smiling, in on the joke.



  * ~~willingly torturing himself, living within arm’s length of what he wants most desperately, and can never, ever let himself act on~~



  * Goemon notices _some_ thing is wrong, even if the thing itself is unclear, glancing between them, his grip tightening on the sword.



  * Unsure if this is still a fight.



  * Or about to be one.



  * “Fujiko, I _swear to fucking god…”_



  * “A love potion can’t work when he’s already in love, can it?”



  * ~~listening to his breathing at night, knowing it’s pointless, but unable to tear himself away from pretending to have even this fragment of the man who blazes like a meteor~~



  * _Partners._ Such a stupid, ambiguous word.



  * So many different things it could mean.



  * ~~Except what he wants it to, of course.~~



  * He can see the moment Lupin understands, grey eyes going wide, surprise ~~disgust~~ shock ~~fear~~



  * “Jigen…?”



  * No no no no no nononononono _nonononoNONONONONONO **NONONONONONonoNOnonOnONOnONonOnonoNo**_



  * Fujiko, the stupid, stuck-up ~~knowing~~ smirk finally sliding off her face, glancing between them. Settling on Lupin -



  * “…you didn’t know?”



  * _almost_ doesn’t see the hand holding the Magnum begin to rise on puppet strings.



  * “Jigen, _stop!”_



  * He doesn’t



  * Goemon, his hair fluffed like a startled cat, wrestling for control -



  * He wins. Jigen lowers the pistol, _~~but his expression stays murderous.~~_



  * Faced with the upheaval of his comfortable existence, Lupin –



  * _~~-ignores it.~~_



  * _Revelations and existential crises when they're safely away and Jigen **isn't** trying to shoot Fujiko_



  * “Hey, hey. We’re all tired and hungry, we’ll talk about this later. Dinner’s on me tonight.”



  * Turning to his gunman, arms wide, placating.



  * “I’ll pay your share of the job anyway, Jigen-chan, it always puts you in a bad mood when we do a job for Fujiko…”



  * _Years_ of Lupin picking her over him.



  * Sweating for him. Starving for him. Taking bullets for him. The rare successful jobs, the frequent disappointments. Good times and bad.



  * _Trying to nap, slumped against the wall in threadbare hotel hallways, the door deadbolted behind him as warm, liquid giggling and purred compliments spilled around the edges of the badly-fitted doorframe_



  * _Lupin with slap-red cheeks, falling asleep on top of him to the sound of his own complaints_



  * _Knowing he was only ever the consolation prize, the best friend to be grumbled to, ~~but at least it still allowed him to stay in Lupin’s orbit, torturing himself with proximity~~_



  * Every stupid fuck-up, every ludicrous plan he’d let himself be talked into, every long night of freezing stake-outs, made useless after Lupin decided to switch targets…



  * ~~And it was never enough.~~



  * And suddenly, he doesn’t care anymore.



  * “Keep it. I quit.”



  * “You’re tired and frustrated, I get it, but you-”



  * -it’s startling exhilarating mesmerizing fascinating _terrifying,_ just how easy it finally is, to turn and walk away from years of his life, his career, his partner, all his useless love.



  * His trapped, pointless dead end.



  * He doesn’t need to see to be able to picture Lupin’s face, screwing up into simian anger, eyebrows furrowing. He can predict, down to the intake of breath _~~heartbeat~~ , ~~heartbeat~~_ , the outburst that follows after him.



  * “Fine! Go find somewhere to cool your heels then, but it won’t be on my fucking dime! You’re a bad loser, just ‘cause you’ve never gotten laid in your life!”



  * Jigen doesn’t so much as turn his head.



  * _~~Amazing, just how fast the red thread snaps when you hold a lighter to it~~_



  * Fujiko’s neatly ordered world is being split at the seams, without even the gem to show for it.



  * _~~They actually weren’t…?~~_



  * She had assumed she was the Other Woman.



  * She’s always the Other Woman.



  * _The view of the past is askew, the glimpse of the future’s ambiguous._



  * _~~Nothing to do but wait and see.~~_ Follow old patterns, if the new ones are spiraling uncertainly.



  * She pauses, turns to glare at Lupin. “So if that’s how you act when you’re in love with me…”



  * Lupin doesn’t have an answer to that. ~~To any of it.~~



  * He’s going to spend tonight alone.



  * The sight of his best friend’s retreating back just confirms it.



  * He pushes down his feelings about the surprise ( ~~compliment~~?) revelation ~~horror~~ confusion, wonders if he should go after him. Decides not to.



  * They get angry. They fight. It’s what best friends do.



  * Jigen will be back in a few days.



  * ~~A week, at most.~~



  * They’ll talk then.



. 

. 

. 

  * Jigen is not back in a week.



**Author's Note:**

> • Partially inspired by VampireNaomi’s comment that the Nettare d’Amore plotline is bullshit, and uncontrollable lust is not the same thing as love
> 
> • Partially inspired by the amount of shit Lupin puts Jigen through, especially early in canon
> 
> • ~~Partially because I’m grumpy and I want angst, dammit~~


End file.
